May 9, 2011

A mother-in-law's opinion of the First Lady

Here's a paragraph from Janny Scott's biography of the President's late mother, A Singular Woman, that seems like a fair depiction of Michelle Obama:
The new girlfriend Obama had brought with him to Hawaii the previous Christmas was different from Ann. ... Her father, Fraser Robinson III, a descendant of slaves, had been employed as a maintenance worker, later a foreman in a city water-filtration plant; her mother, Marian, had stayed at home with Michelle and her brother when they were young. The family was hardworking, churchgoing, and close-knit. As an undergraduate at Princeton and as a law student at Harvard, Michelle Robinson had been active in black student organizations. She moved systematically through life, making sensible, carefully considered decisions, each building to the next. "I would say Michelle is much more like our grandmother, [Obama's half sister] Maya told me. "And I would say that my mother and my grandmother really were also opposites." After the Christmas visit, Ann reported back to Surakusuma. "She is intelligent, very tall (6'1"), not beautiful but quite attractive," Ann wrote of Robinson. "She did her BA at Princeton and her law degree at Harvard, But she has spent most of her life in Chicago." Ann, who prided herself on raising her children to have a global perspective, described Robinson as "a little provincial and not as international as Barry." But Ann liked her. "She is nice, though," she said. If Robinson and Obama were to marry after he graduated from law school, Ann told Suryakusuma, she would not be unhappy.

By potential mother-in-law standards, "not ... unhappy" is pretty high praise.

I want to put a word in here for Michelle Obama.

She got put on an elite track that she wasn't cut out for by 1) affirmative action, 2) her older brother Craig's popularity as a star basketball player and well-liked personality at Princeton, and (I would imagine) 3) recommendation letters from the man she babysat for: Rev. Jesse Jackson. (Her long friendship with Jackson's daughter might help explain why she had a hard time, during the dizzying heights of Obamamania, agreeing with everybody else that her husband was all that: compared to Jesse at his peak of charisma a generation ago, Barack is kind of dull).

There's so much good will in modern America toward respectable black people like Michelle and Craig Robinson that it winds up sometimes embarrassing one of them by pushing her forward until she finally crashes and burns upon contact with something objective, publicly confirming her deepest worries about herself. It's not surprising that she vaguely resents the many favors white people have done her. As Ben Franklin pointed out, doing favors for people just makes them resent you. (Have them do you a favor instead.) 

So, after her super-duper Princeton-Harvard education, her law career at a big time firm was a bust: she didn't pass the easy Illinois bar exam on her first opportunity. It became quickly apparent to all concerned that she wasn't going to make partner. Soon, she was working for Valerie Jarrett in Mayor Daley's office doing whatever it is that people in The Machine do. (I never wanted to ask.) After awhile, she got ensconced on the Diversity & Political Connection/Corruption track. 

It's a living.

As a First Lady, she's been fine. Nancy Reagan told people to Just Say No. Laura Bush said to Read Books. Michelle Obama says, Don't Get Fat. These days, that's a pretty good thing for a First Lady to say. And she has to put herself on the line: Laura Bush wasn't going to stop reading books, and if she did, nobody would notice. But if Michelle stops exercising and gets fat, everybody is going to know.


60 comments:

Reg Cæsar said...

Michelle's a better choice of mate than Mary Ross, who in 1683 enticed Barry's ancestor Jonathan Dunham from his long exile in New Jersey to come up to Plymouth, kill her neighbor's dog and set fire to his house. He was "whipped at the post" for that, and banished from Plymouth.

Fascinating people, these Dunhams!

Actually, Jonathan was the son of Richard Singletary of Newbury, and no one knows why Jon changed his name. So maybe the book should be called A Singletary Woman.

Sen. Scott Brown apparently descends from Richard as well, through a saner line, no doubt.

headache said...

Steve you really are a funny guy.


As Ben Franklin pointed out, doing favors for people just makes them resent you. (Have them do you a favor instead.)

I know this is the truth, but I cannot get my head around this. It's so hard to put into practice.

Kylie said...

"I want to put a word in here for Michelle Obama."

Fine. I myself have defended her against what I thought were unfair criticisms (of her appearance).

"She got put on an elite track that she wasn't cut out for by 1) affirmative action, 2) her older brother Craig's popularity as a star basketball player and well-liked personality at Princeton, and (I would imagine) 3) recommendation letters from the man she babysat for: Rev. Jesse Jackson..."

Huh? She didn't get "put on an elite track", she muscled her way in with help from the things you list. You make her sound like a reluctant star who had a particularly nasty stage mother.

"It's not surprising that she vaguely resents the many favors white people have done her. As Ben Franklin pointed out, doing favors for people just makes them resent you. (Have them do you a favor instead.)"

Nobody said she had to accept so many--or any--favors from white people. As for doing instead of receiving favors, I think Michelle prefers taking to giving.

Was there really an external obstacle to her getting a respectable college degree at a less competitive school and then "giving back" to her community by taking some ordinary job in the public sector at a less than exorbitant salary? I suspect the answer is no, the obstacle to an ordinary education and career was her own pride and ambition.

As for her "Let's Move" campaign, supposedly there's some tie-in with her pals in the food industry. I see Michelle Malkin write about it on her blog.

Apparently you're saying, look, she's an AA baby who grabbed what was offered to her because of her race, not her merit. So you can't blame her for being resentful that she didn't earn it, that all this was handed to her: the Ivy League education, the six figure salary and life in the White House.

I guess even the definition of chutzpah has a racial aspect these days.

Anonymous said...

"Dumb for a Harvard Lawyer, smart for a First Lady" sounds like a fair assessment to me.

I think she benefits from strong positive personality traits more so than super high IQ. Her personality traits seem to me to be a helpful mix of conscienciousness (unfortunately without super high intelligence) and and acuqiecense towards risk-taking (in contrast with may women, including General Powell's wife).

Hopefully Anonymous
http://www.hopeanon.typepad.com

Anonymous said...

Obama, along with all other former US Presidents except Martin Van Buren, is a descendent of John Lackland Plantagenet, King of England and signer of the Magna Carta:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua1bH1iiArY

Anonymous said...

Steve, you speak with such confident authority about what you do not know for sure. How do you know that she was a beneficiary of affirmative action? Maybe she was. You don't have the specifics. You don't even know her grades or her scores. You just assumed that she must've been this and/or that.

All you have are suspicions. Still, you might be right.

Anonymous said...

I kind of chuckled when I learned the first lady was to take up the cause of obesity in America. Discussing politics can and often leads to heated disagreements. Discussing what works for weight loss is worse though. Shedding pounds tends to be more personal for many, with nearly everyone having an opinion on how best to do it.

Udolpho.com said...

How do you know that she was a beneficiary of affirmative action?

Get fucking real.

How do we know she has a womb? She could be a male-to-female transexual, and her children all discreetly adopted.

More likely than the proposition that she made it through Princeton without the help of a racial spoils system (exhibit A: her thesis).

Formerly.JP98 said...

"The family was hardworking, churchgoing, and close-knit."

And we ruined its potential, through affirmative action and a mass culture that fosters resentment and mocks religion.

Anonymous said...

Get fucking real.

How do we know she has a womb? She could be a male-to-female transexual, and her children all discreetly adopted.

More likely than the proposition that she made it through Princeton without the help of a racial spoils system (exhibit A: her thesis



Hey, Udolpho, we know you hate black people, and particularly hate those more successful than you. But I taught at a near-Ivy school and can tell you that plenty of white students turn in papers that are less literate than Michelle Obamas thesis. She strikes me as a garden variety mediocre Ivy student. Plenty of white versions of those.

DCThrowback said...

@anon 4:59am

Near-ivy? Fine (Bowdoin? Middlebury? UMass at Amherst?).

Her thesis was the pinnacle of her 4 years of education at Princeton University, one of the crown jewels of our supposed elite college system. And it was, as Udolpho said, tripe. Much was not given most likely because much was not expected.

You didn't teach Princetonians. You taught people who couldn't get into Princeton. So, my guess is, they had scores of people similar to Michelle Obama (or worse!), who also probably didn't belong at Princeton.

Steve's point that Michelle probably would've done much better by attending U of Illinois rings true. But because of AA and her connections, she was probably in over head a bit - which led to a teeny bit of resentment.

diss checker said...

"Hey, Udolpho, we know you hate black people, and particularly hate those more successful than you. But I taught at a near-Ivy school and can tell you that plenty of white students turn in papers that are less literate than Michelle Obamas thesis. She strikes me as a garden variety mediocre Ivy student. Plenty of white versions of those."

Yes, schadenfreud is always tempting.
But really? You taught at an Ivy League? What'd you teach? Bill Ayre's kind of stuff?
Well, before I'd accept your nuanced and experienced opinion, I'd have to see some examples. Quite honestly your written comment style doesn't inspire confidence. Where did you teach? It may have been Ivy, but was it League?

I can't claim Ivy League affiliation, but I worked for several years in a grad school office checking theses and dissertations for correct style, format and proper research techniques, and she's in the lower half by State University standards. She's high school. Maybe the fabled white/Asian high school. However, she was not majoring in a hard science or planning to be an air controller, so it didn't matter much. Since she became what she is, what matters is the emotional content, not the style or even the accuracy of her research. She was one of the ones there for Princeton to fill a quota. Plenty of those.
And those quota-fillers feel inferior and get bitter. The nicer ones who still have some brains, switch to polisci or business, like the lovely "hispanic" girl I once knew who had won a scholarship to Princeton with the intention of majoring in science because she'd done so well in her small, 7th day Adventist school. Found she wasn't in Kansas anymore.

Nevertheless, Mrs. M.O. is successful, I'll say that, though intellect had little to do with it. She was never much of a lawyer and lost her license in the early 90s. After that, she focused on politics, which takes cunning and connections, not intellect. There are many roads to "success."

Anonymous said...

Get Real. Read her thesis. It the work of a leftist drone, full of resentment and hatred for the white middle class and traditional American values. It is also poorly written, with grammatical errors and poorly organized paragraphs that don't lead to a point. It is the work of a third rate mind.

Just another leftist robot who has jumped on the race-baiting, affirmative action, hate Whitey gravy train. Just look at the photo of her when she denounces the USA as a "Mean Country", you can just see the burning hatred in her facial expression.

It tells you a lot about Michelle that Obama found her an acceptable person to marry at the time in his life when he was openly advocating violent Marxist revolution (in order to stand all white middle class people up against the wall). Two communist peas in a pod.

You are aware that in the 1980's, Obama openly called for violent revolution in the USA? He hasn't really changed his stripes, just his methods.

Anonymous said...

"Was there really an external obstacle to her getting a respectable college degree at a less competitive school and then "giving back" to her community by taking some ordinary job in the public sector at a less than exorbitant salary? "

Ah, here's where Stanley Ann and Michelle resemble each other.

Couldn't Stanley Ann have gotten a decent teaching job stateside which would have allowed her to raise her son in a stable, sheltered university environment?

Ambition isn't always a good thing. I know many people who max out their potential without also attaining some level of prestige that actually represents over achievement. For all those who do burn out, however, there must be many who don't.

As for Michelle, there would have been a lot of pressure (note the connection to JJ) on her to be an over achiever. I think this tendency is often related to having to compensate for the damaged reputation of one's family or ancestors.

What gets ignored in all of these stabs at AA using her as evidence for why it's a bad idea is that MO is probably a very disciplined person. I'm glad you're focusing on it more today. The term conscientiousness isn't always viewed in a positive light, btw.

Now for the flip side:

While we're on the subject, there has long been a trend for young white ladies of a certain class to attend colleges that were perhaps a bit beyond their capability for one reason and one reason only: that's where the most eligible men were.

Come on, name the competitive university and there will be a majority of students who spend too much money on a degree that is above their level simply b/c the university brand increases their social status and ability to network after graduation. I can think of any number of white frat boys who fit this description.

It's only blacks and feminists who are required to prove they were worthy by also achieving at the highest levels of the best students who went to those institutions. On the other hand, Latinos seem to understand that the networking opportunities are usually more important than grades.

Funny how we do and don't live in a meritocracy. For a female like me, getting a degree with mostly C's while finding a good husband was a worthy goal in the 50's and 60's. Somewhere after 1980 or so, a coed like me had to demonstrate that she was a serious student in order to attract the better potential mates. Yet from the Ivy League on down, generations of students were there to get gentleman's Cs and pre-wed degrees in order to maintain or improve their social class. I think many ambitious African-Americans are well aware that the status of the university they attend is related to class and therefore power so getting the degree regardless of grades is what really matters. It's only recently that anyone could be made to feel self-conscious about their actual GPA.

I see evidence that Obama is much more traditional than you'd expect from a scion of either his father's or his mother's side of the family. He's recognized the follies of intellectual vanity along with the empty, even obvious rationalizations that an ambitious workaholic type can come up with to avoid the duties of mundanity.

For O, the love of his life is a woman who is actually interested in raising her children. Why don't you stop comparing MO to Einstein and instead to the many females with her credentials who ultimately really wanted to be mommies after they proved their worthiness as mates of elite males. ;0)

Chicago said...

She looks to me to be just another bug-eyed, scowling Chicago black, a real archetype.

Anonymous said...

"Dumb for a Harvard Lawyer, smart for a First Lady" sounds like a fair assessment to me.

Dumb for a Harvard [anything], smart for a black.

At least Michelle Robinson was savvy enough not to test her limits as a premed at Princeton, as Sinedu Tadesse did at Harvard. After academically floundering (probably in her chemistry classes), Tadesse killed her Dunster House roommate, a high achieving Asian who was going to breeze into HMS; then she committed suicide.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinedu_Tadesse

What a waste of a lifetime of affirmative action privileges. Those alone could have added millions to her lifetime compensation.

Anonymous said...

"How do you know that she was a beneficiary of affirmative action?"

Because she admitted that her teachers said that her test scores weren't good enough:

"Teachers telling me not to reach too high because my test scores weren't good enough."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/lady-delivers-emotional-commencement-address-washington-dc-high/story?id=10892452

She's an Affirmative Action baby, and the only reason she overcame her test scores was because some white person deigned to let her in. The fact that legacy admissions are essentially AA for rich white people doesn't change the fact.

Anonymous said...

Not many blue collar Chicagoans wind up in the the Ivy League, much less black Chicagoans. Michelle has been experiencing culture shock for the past 25 years. All things considered, she's done pretty well.

Mrs. Obama is obviously a woman of good character from a good family. You can just tell that, although her own academic credentials can be attributed to affirmative action, she is the kind of mother who makes her kids hit the books every single night and brooks no excuses. Not a tiger mom, but someone who cares about her kids and makes sure that they take school seriously. She is probably an excellent mother. I am sure that her daughters will do well and, despite a privileged life in the public eye, will not end up dating rap producers.

Sometimes Mrs. Obama conducts herself with poise. She really has been a model First Lady. The cause she chose is perfect, she behaves well, and even her fashion choices seem appropriate to me. She wears classic conservative clothing, appropriate to a woman of her physique, in African-American colors.

I wouldn't mind working with Michelle in an office setting. We would probably get along well.

But to be honest, I really wouldn't want her as my neighbor. She is so filled with anger and aggression. It seems like there might be a violent outburst at any moment. I couldn't deal with that on a regular basis.

I had a neighbor like that once and it was horrible. I lived around blacks long enough to know how to deal with such people (on the day after she first moved into the apartment, she began washing her car at 5:00 a.m., right outside my door, while carrying on a very loud telephone conversation. I sensed that this was some kind of a ghetto dominance ritual so I immediately went outside and asked her to wait until later to wash her car and keep her voice down because my wife and kids were still asleep. When she started to give a loud and angry retort I shot her a hard look, turned on my heel, and slammed my door. She immediately lowered her voice and was polite to us after that, we even became chatty after a while.) But though she was nice to us, I had to endure her constant screaming at her husband, son, etc. -- it was awful. (She and her husband were both African immigrants, and he was totally meek and passive.)

Michelle gives every indication of being a more upscale version of my old neighbor. She'd probably be nervous about living in a white suburb, and would try to behave well, but the rage would be bubbling beneath the surface at every second. How could you carry on a pleasant, easygoing conversation about the weather, gardening, etc., with someone who looked like they might have an angry outburst at any second? It would be impossible. Every time you saw her go to the mailbox or leave for work in the morning you'd instinctively get defensive. Plus you'd have to endure her hollering at Barack, the kids, etc. -- no thanks.

The above sounds awful, obviously, but it's true. I wouldn't want her living next to me, if she behaved that way. It is possible that Michelle would be a reserved and quiet lady, and if that were the case she'd be an excellent neighbor. But if she acts like she does in public, I would not want her living next to me. How many white people, in their heart of hearts, would want Michelle Obama as their neighbor? I venture to say not many.

J said...

It is not easy to be a very tall, educated Black girl in America, yet she succeeded and is performing well. I am sorry for her publicised slimming campaign, because she is fated by her genes to be very fat. As all mature African ladies. As every overweight individual eventually learns, all resistance is futile. My sympathy is with her.

Anonymous said...

Udolpho's just calling B.S. It doesn't have to mean any more than that.

There is a 99% chance that Mrs. Obama was a beneficiary of AA while getting into Princeton (just like some legacies and donor's kids benefit). It doesn't need to be just a controversial fact on a board that is generally devoted to real talk.


Duncan Idaho

Dutch Boy said...

Obama, along with all other former US Presidents except Martin Van Buren, is a descendent of John Lackland Plantagenet, King of England and signer of the Magna Carta.
Not much of a distinction; half the country is descended from the Plantagenets (e.g., my wife). They were a fecund bunch. Poor little Dutchboy will have to be content with a bunch of nobodies for ancestors (as did Dutchboy Martin Van Buren).

Sgt. Joe Friday said...

"But if Michelle stops exercising and gets fat, everybody is going to know."

And you just know that there's a fat woman inside, hollering "let me out!!!". That would explain her prickly personality -- being hungry all the time would make anyone grouchy.

poolside said...

To me, Michelle O's cringe-inducing behavior is the way she diminishes the FLOTUS position by "keeping it real" -- dressing poorly and doing bizarre things like running pass routes and dancing to rap music with kids.

Of course, the media continue to tell us how stylish and "with it" she is.

Svigor said...

Hey, Udolpho, we know you hate black people, and particularly hate those more successful than you.

Dial it down, more, more, until it's on top of the mouse...

There we go! Now it makes perfect sense...

Anonymous said...

I second what Kylie said.

bigdukesix said...

I myself have defended her against what I thought were unfair criticisms (of her appearance).

Without knowing precisely what those criticisms were, I say that Michelle's appearance is more than fair game. The media slobbers over her looks like she's a super model (she's made People Magazine's beautiful people list as well as Maxim Magazine's 100 sexiest women list). They also fawn over her choice of clothes as if she's a fashion icon. And she's not even remotely attractive, being on the far right of the female-masculinity bell curve. Criticizing her appearance helps to demonstrate the disgusting dishonesty and black-worship of the MSM.

How do you know that she was a beneficiary of affirmative action?

Just like how I know Barack Obama benefited from affirmative action, along with any other black you could name. They all do.

Udolpho.com said...

She strikes me as a garden variety mediocre Ivy student.

None of them belong in university, and after we cut them loose we can probably can your useless ass as well.

Anonymous said...

Anon,

Plenty of legacy admissions at Ivy League schools as well.

Udolpho.com said...

By the way I am looking to send my daughter to a "near-Ivy"...anyone have some good tips on getting my near-smart offspring into a near-good school so she can get a near-useful degree? I've already checked out University of Phoenix and am suitably impressed.

Whiskey said...

Michelle Obama is Exhibit A of the Angry Black Woman(tm) and comes off that way, very off-putting. She's got a HUUUUUUGGGGGEEEEE behind as Donald Trump would say, and her "don't be fat" campaign of national nanny-ism seems stupid when she's wolfing down Kobe Beef Sliders. That fat ass ought to have a beeper like a dump truck when she backs up.

But the biggest problem Michelle Obama presents is her Marie Antoinette personality. Luxury vacations to the Costa Del Sol do not go over well, in a recession.

Anonymous said...

So, after her super-duper Princeton-Harvard education, her law career at a big time firm was a bust: she didn't pass the easy Illinois bar exam on her first opportunity. It became quickly apparent to all concerned that she wasn't going to make partner. Soon, she was working for Valerie Jarrett in Mayor Daley's office doing whatever it is that people in The Machine do. (I never wanted to ask.) After awhile, she got ensconced on the Diversity & Political Connection/Corruption track.

As usual, Steve is too much of a gentleman, having omitted:


A) Her semi-literate senior thesis at Princeton, and

B) The revoking of her law license by the state of Illinois.


Lots of us peons out here in flyover country would especially like to learn more about "B)".

Anonymous said...

The other side the favors equation is that it's pleasurable to give them. Every bit of the resentment that they get is translated into self-satisfaction for you.

You don't think any of that through consciously while you do it. At least I don't think of it consciously. And I mostly do favors only if I'm asked. But in retrospect it always turns out this way - you feel better, they feel like crap.

I'm not much of a movie buff, but doesn't Godfather start with the godfather giving out favors? Royalty used to grant audiences, hear petitioners, throw gold pieces into the crowd during processions.

For a little moment there that's how you feel.

Fred said...

"Hey, Udolpho, we know you hate black people, and particularly hate those more successful than you. But I taught at a near-Ivy school and can tell you that plenty of white students turn in papers that are less literate than Michelle Obamas thesis. She strikes me as a garden variety mediocre Ivy student. Plenty of white versions of those."

Looking at those excerpts of her thesis in that link, you can see a certain cleverness on her part. No, it's not well-written, but it's more numbing than obviously, creatively bad. Which is fine for sliding past a grader. I've known people with most likely higher IQs who have gotten their more ambitious theses rejected. Michelle was smart enough to understand how the system worked, and smart enough to never really get out of her depth in an obvious way.

James Kabala said...

We can't judge unless Anonymous reveals his school, but there really are schools (such as our host's own alma mater, Rice) that are similar in quality to the Ivies without actually being members of the Northeast-based athletic conference. Also, Anonymous said he "taught" (past tense) there, so his useless ass has already moved on.

Udolpho is often a very perceptive guy, but he's certainly someone who can dish it out but can't take it.

Luke Lea said...

This just makes the case for affirmative action for all at gateway elite ivy colleges. As long as she/he is among the best and the brightest of her particular group and there are plenty of other "mediocre groups around (like some of my Scotts-Irish kin :) ) there need be no undo embarrassment. Better to have governing elites that reflect the ethnic and geographical diversity of our democracy than a meritocratic elite that is out of touch and out of sympathy with the average majority. Good enough might be better than the best.

Truth said...

"That fat ass ought to have a beeper like a dump truck when she backs up."

Are you still mad about Barry Catching Bin Laden?

dearieme said...

"she diminishes the FLOTUS position": I've read the Constitution - there is no such position.

Laban said...

"... doesn't Godfather start with the godfather giving out favors? Royalty used to grant audiences, hear petitioners, throw gold pieces into the crowd during processions.

For a little moment there that's how you feel."


"And a young prince must be prudent like that,
giving freely while his father lives
so that afterwards in age when fighting starts
steadfast companions will stand by him
and hold the line. Behaviour that's admired
is the path to power among people everywhere."


From Heaney's translation of Beowulf. All the kings are described in terms of how they rewarded their followers.

Anonymous said...

I think Stanley would have been much happier had she just married a nice decent white man instead of Obama's dad.

charlotte said...

I can't believe anybody would think her presence in Princeton was anything except a gift from the Affirmative Action benevolent society. She's always seemed pretty grotesque to me, but one thing I actually kind of like her for was just admitting she was AA. Didn't make her attitude any better but at least she was acknowledged she didn't really belong there.

Truth said...

"I think Stanley would have been much happier had she just married a nice decent white man instead of Obama's dad."

And she would have been in heaven right now marveling at her nice decent white son...getting commendations, working at the post office...Or teaching English 101 at NW Hawaii Community College.

Marc B said...

"You are aware that in the 1980's, Obama openly called for violent revolution in the USA? He hasn't really changed his stripes, just his methods."

Obama is part of the Establishment, and has been ever since he "attended" Columbia and worked at Business International Group. His mother was an associate of Tim Geitner's father back in the 1960's. All that Commie fervor has given way to realpolitik.

Globalists need both right and left cover, and Obama and the Clintons are their Left cover, while Bush's Senior and Junior were the internationalist's front men to sucker in middle class conservatives.

Anonymous said...

@Fred
Michelle was smart enough to understand how the system worked, and smart enough to never really get out of her depth in an obvious way.

She wasn't "smart enough" to know how to write 'thank you,' instead repeatedly resorting to "thank-you." The system works for her, and that's all there is to understanding it.

Kylie said...

"'I myself have defended her against what I thought were unfair criticisms (of her appearance).'

Without knowing precisely what those criticisms were, I say that Michelle's appearance is more than fair game."


I've seen people say her face is ugly. Sure it is when she scowls (which is often) but it can be pleasant and she has a very nice, even skin tone. Also, when she wore false eyelashes (very becomingly, I thought), one columnist wrote: "Michelle Obama is normally so natural looking, it's surprising to find something about her that is so unapologetically fake.

Those eyelashes weren't even trying to look real.

No, they were full-on, all-out diva lashes, the kind you normally find on D-list celebrities or in drag-act dressing rooms."

Why is Michelle Obama Wearing False Eyelashes?

I thought comparing her to a drag act or D-list celebrity was completely unacceptable and said so on at least one forum. She may be tacky at times but I've yet to see her being tawdry.

But yes, she's worn outfits that are simply not appropriate for the FLOTUS to wear publicly: the too-casual shorts when riding on Air Force One, the pretty but too-informal sweater set to meet the Queen, etc. The guys on my husband's gun forum were incensed when she wore a brightly patterned dress to some function honoring vets or war dead, I forget which.

There's fair criticism of her and then unfair. You can find plenty of grounds for legitimate criticism of her, sartorial and otherwise, without resorting to nitpicking.

Anonymous said...

Hey, Udolpho, we know you hate black people, and particularly hate those more successful than you.



That's like half of the black population of America.

Anonymous said...

"Not a tiger mom, but someone who cares about her kids and makes sure that they take school seriously. She is probably an excellent mother."

I'd go along with that simply from seeing how the kids behave in public. They don't have that obviously spoiled look.

Sgt. Joe Friday said...

"Obama is part of the Establishment, and has been ever since he 'attended' Columbia...All that Commie fervor has given way to realpolitik."

Um, who says our establishment elites aren't communists? If they were given a chance to rule like the Politburo of the old USSR, but with better quality housing and consumer goods, you think they'd say "no" to that?

dcite said...

"And she would have been in heaven right now marveling at her nice decent white son...getting commendations, working at the post office...Or teaching English 101 at NW Hawaii Community College."

Post Office? That's a black job where I come from.
But you're actually on the same page as the rest of us. Black-son Obama has an intellect that would indeed be better off in the Post Office or, at best, a teacher in a community college where he could smoke dope in peace. Instead, cursed by his race, he was destined to be catapulted to fame and glory through nothing he did of any merit.
If this hypothetical white son was as mediocre and characterless as the actual half-black one, the powers-that-be would certainly not have bothered to put him in the White House. They spent more money on this person that was spent in all previous presidential campaigns put together.
Millions have been spent on hiding his records (a law firm in Portland was handling that). He's president because he's "black" and because he was chosen long ago. He simply can't be seriously questioned or criticized, much less impeached or indicted, without civil unrest. He can hide all his records. Thus the real powers can push their agenda.
So you're right.

ricpic said...

What a relief that she's finally proud of her country.

Svigor said...

None of them belong in university, and after we cut them loose we can probably can your useless ass as well.

Don't sugarcoat it 'Dolph, tell us how you really feel.

Svigor said...

Are you still mad about Barry Catching Bin Laden?

Just a bit lower...right on that mouse...got it.

You ever write soaps, T? I bet you'd be good at it, given a spell-checker.

Svigor said...

I'd go along with that simply from seeing how the kids behave in public. They don't have that obviously spoiled look.

They're probably terrified of mommy. Disciplinarian parents tend to have well-behaved kids.

Truth said...

You can spell one Aye-Rab's name 77 different ways, but I can spell another's two?

Anonymous said...

My assessment about Michelle Obama's intellect matches Fred's.

I agree it seems pretty uncontroversial that Michelle Obama was an affirmative action admit at the least to Harvard Law, and possibly to Princeton to. Most black students (and particularly black american students) at both schools are affirmative action admits with grades and test scores towards the bottom of the admitted class. There are usually a few black students, up to 1/3 of the black students -not many of whom aren't biracial, west indian, or african immigrant- I'd guess, who would have been admitted even if they were white or asian.

I skimmed Michelle Obama's senior thesis, and I didn't think it was that bad for an Ivy League senior thesis. I think some folks here have an inflated sense of how smart and conscientious even median Princeton students are. This is a senior thesis by 22 year olds that tend not to have much riding on writing a particularly brilliant senior thesis. I'd guess Michelle Obama's was below average, but pretty close to the median thesis in quality, thus not as reflective of her being an affirmative action beneficiary as was her failing the Illinois bar after graduating Harvard Law.

Michelle Obama's thesis redeems her for good faith readers. It was much better than I expected. A lot of these papers are half-assed, last minute rush jobs for people knocking out a graduation requirement. I think her conscientiousness worked to her advantage, allowing her to create a relatively well-organized, coherent paper that, like Fred noted, wasn't so ambitious that it outstripped her intellectual abilities.

Hopefully Anonymous

http://www.hopeanon.typepad.com

James Kabala said...

I only had time to skim the thesis, but from what I read I also agree with Fred. The sentences were often ponderous and occasionally bordered on mind-numbing but were nonetheless clear in meaning. The weighing of evidence seemed careful rather than reckless, and in her conclusion she actually backed down a bit from her original (and more radical) hypothesis. Blatant grammatical errors were few and seemed to be mostly typos (not that that is an excuse - obviously a Princeton thesis should have been proofread over and over again). Whether it was Ivy League level is questionable, but it was well above "semi-literate."

Svigor said...

You can spell one Aye-Rab's name 77 different ways, but I can spell another's two?

I've only given a couple of spellings for Ghaddaffey. But I do lend moral support 77+ spellings.

But I wasn't talking about anything you've misspelled here, mouse, just referring to the fact that your spelling and grammar are generally of dubious quality. Though that comes and goes (drinking while posting? I've done that a few times).

But why focus on the negative? I pay you a compliment and you pass right over it...

Nine-of-Diamonds said...

"I skimmed Michelle Obama's senior thesis, and I didn't think it was that bad for an Ivy League senior thesis."

Nah, it was that bad. It was marginally better than the Freshman & Sophomore HS papers I edited when I was a peer editor. Compared to the papers I read a couple years later at one of the ivies, it was worse. Passive voice, split infinitives, sentences cluttered with prepositions, etc etc. Even the average students at my college were generally capable of ensuring a "smooth read" for their audience; Michelle was not. The topic itself is uninspired, and the whole thing comes across as far too political. Regardless of their political orientations (and there was a surprising degree of ideological diversity at my school), most students knew that sermonizing in papers the way Michelle O did makes you look, well, ridiculous.

Kylie said...

"It[Michelle Obama's senior thesis] was marginally better than the Freshman & Sophomore HS papers I edited when I was a peer editor."

I couldn't force myself to read any more of it than the introduction, the writing was that bad. It reminded me of the Remedial English papers I graded in high school.

When I realized that after four years at an Ivy League institution, Michelle Robinson's writing was so poor and her ideas so pedestrian that they were comparable to the work of failing students in high school, I was sincerely shocked.

Anonymous said...

For those with an inflated sense of how well median HYP students write, consider the median NYT or LA Times article.

Hopefully Anonymous
http://www.hopeanon.typepad.com

Anonymous said...

Ann Dunham's evaluation of her
daughter-in-law to be, seems lots more like an evaluation of a trophy than of a human relationship. It is sardonic to refer to Stanlee Ann Dunham as ever having been "a white girl from Kansas." Being long within Kansas, and knowing Butler County well enough, I perceive that Stanlee Ann was socially rejected in the area schools--largely El Dorado--that she attended and was rejected with a consistency and intensity that seldom has anything to do with externals, like social status, complexion, etc., but stems from the keen group sense of someone who does not interface --whose basic emotional gears were stripped--she clanged and banged and interfered with the social drive shaft. Her mother--a very perceptive woman and by far the most remarkable and commendable ancestor BHO has--consistently noted that Stanlee Ann's thoughts and feelings were inappropriate. Stanlee ? All this voltage about her father assigning her a male name for want of a boy is most likely schizo invention?. That names of students are sometimes "messed up" in getting inaccurately recorded on birth certificates is not infrequently encountered and is dealt with by schools and classroom teachers. No classroom teacher would have allowed any cheap mileage of "Stanley" being a boy's name and the name would have been appropriately alterned for group purposes--e.g. Stanlie / Sta a'Lee/ etc. The "name issue" is an excellent example of the need of this alienated child to call attention to herself , if negative attention, and to "play out" agendas. I don't find much evidence of Ann having ever been authentically heterosexual, BTW. And there is little basis to assume that her son has ever been authentically heterosexual. With due regard to the pattern of contemporary repression, we need to greet a semi-offical biography like this with a search for what has been omitted. The truth can be assmembled online, if the genesis has been afforded by way of conventional publishing.
The rest of the story, please?